Jerome Teelucksingh, Labour and the Decolonization Struggle in Trinidad and Tobago,  Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

For many years I have wondered why three of the internationally active  Black  political figures came from Trinidad. I am referring to C.L.R. James, George Padmore and Claudia Jones.  This book provides some clues.

The Arawak residents of the islands were almost exterminated by the successive Spanish, French and then British colonisers. After the abolition of slavery, the Brits needed more cheap labourers for their plantations, so they began importing  indentured Indians in 1845. Labour regulations were very strict, wages were very low, some of the indentured deserted and squatted on Crown Lands. Strikes began in 1882 – in  1884 there were 12!

The  Trinidad Workingmen’s Association (‘TWA’ )was formed in 1894 and in its early days attracted mainly African skilled workers such as masons, carpenters, clerks.  It campaigned not only for workers’ rights, wages, reduced hours of work, conditions etc., but also on political issues, such as the restoration of Port-of-Spain’s municipal charter in 1906. The Workingmen’s Reform Club , established in 1897, campaigned against the importation of Indians as indentured labour’ , which it maintained, was akin to ‘semi-slavery’. (p.23), The TWA was also opposed to indenture and in 1907 complained to the Governor about their working conditions.

But as condition were bad for all workers and WWI grossly inflated the cost of living, there were many strikes form 1917 onwards. Initially African and Indians workers did not get along well, but the TWA, under the leadership of Arthur Cipriani, was determined to pull all workers together, whether the division was due to ethnicity or social class. Just how many members there were by the  1920 is disputed – somewhere around 50,000 by the 1930s the estimate is 300,000. There were two  official women’s section by 1927 in Port-of-Spain.

From 1927 the TWA was involved in the elections for the Legislative Council, though the franchise was very very limited – for example,  of the c.17,000 population of San Fernando, 2,300 were eligible to vote!  (p.70);  It campaigned for increased voting rights, for self-government and against child labour in  both Indian and African dominated  areas/villages .  Separate trade unions  began to be formed in 1930 so the campaigns for regulations for working hours, etc. increased. The government’s eventual response was the introduction of a Trade Union Ordinance  to the Legislative Council in 1932;  in the debates there was much resistance to the omissions regarding workers’ rights.

In 1934 the TWA dissolved itself and became the Trinidad Labour Party and many workers joined; even a Juvenile Section was formed. Unfortunately Indian membership was low. The book finally reports on the 1937 strikes on all the islands, the campaign for a federation of the ’West indies’ colonies and the conferences held to discuss this in 1938 and 1944. The Caribbean Labour Congress  was formed  in 1945. The aim was self-government  and  ‘dominion status’; the struggle was not only against the ruling ‘Mother Country’, but against the new Cold War manipulations.

I wholly agree with Teelucksingh’s conclusion that ‘the true soldiers of the movement for responsible government, the precursors of independence and the true pioneers and martyrs of nationalism belong to the labour movement of the pre 1956-era…the cadre of labour leaders  who with the masses of the African and Indian working class gallantly took the struggle to their colonial masters. ‘ (p.178)

So my three heroes grew up within this history of struggle. I think I can now understand the source of their strength and commitment.